


a picnic at the park

by blissfulbughead



Series: the jones family (or a bughead as parents oneshots collection) [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Betty Cooper Loves Jughead Jones, Bughead as parents, F/M, Fluff, Jughead Jones Loves Betty Cooper, and have a picnic at the park, betty and jughead have a son, betty has a surprise for jughead, betty is a mom, bughead tries parenting, canon up until 4x16, cute fall day at the park, cute family moments, jughead is a dad, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27001270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blissfulbughead/pseuds/blissfulbughead
Summary: Betty and Jughead spend the day with their three year old son, Finley, having a picnic at the park where Betty has some exciting news for her family.
Relationships: Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Series: the jones family (or a bughead as parents oneshots collection) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979281
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	a picnic at the park

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like the description for this oneshot sucks, but I was bored in my classes today so what did I do? I started writing fanfiction and this was the end result. I'm pretty proud of it, but I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

Betty awoke to the soft movement of Jughead’s thumb rubbing a circle on her cheek. When her eyes met his, she couldn’t help but grin. “Good morning,” She greeted.  
“Morning,” He answered.  
“How long have you been watching me?” She questioned while he continued to rub her cheek.  
“Mm, not too long,” Jughead said. Betty giggled but met his lips in a kiss shortly after. When she moved to pull away, he shifted his hand from its place on her cheek to the back of her neck, lowering her back down to him. “I love you,” He whispered against her lips.  
“I love you too,” She replied before he captured her lips with his once again, this time slipping his tongue inside of her mouth and rolling them both to the right so he was hovering over her.  
Betty’s hands found their way into his hair as he pressed a kiss to her cheek before moving back to her lips.  
The pair only broke apart when they heard the quiet pitter-patter of feet racing towards their bedroom. “Mommy! Daddy!” Their three-year-old son, Finley, exclaimed as he managed to jump onto their bed. He landed on Jughead’s chest who grunted in response.  
“Oh goodness,” The twenty-two year old huffed.  
“Fin, what are you doing up so early?” Betty questioned as she moved his raven-colored curl from his forehead which was identical to his father’s.  
“No sleep,” The little boy answered.  
“Why not, honey?” Betty asked.  
Finley tried to explain things the best he could, but due to his limited vocabulary, he only managed to get a few words out. “Bad dream. Got scared.”  
“Aw, it’s okay, buddy,” Jughead reassured his son by hugging him close. “Mommy and daddy will protect you.”  
“Mommy and daddy gone in dream,” He replied with a quaver in his voice. Betty and Jughead exchanged a worrisome glance.  
“What do you mean, baby?” Betty continued.  
“Someone take mommy,” Finley said quietly. “Then daddy try to find mommy and someone take daddy too.”  
Jughead sighed and rubbed his sons back as Betty’s hand went to gently rest on Finley’s head. “Fin, that’s never going to happen. It was just a bad dream because you wanna know why?” Jughead inquired which caused Finley to look up at him.  
“Why?” His soft little voice asked.  
“Because daddy is going to protect you and mommy and never ever let anything bad happen to either of you, okay?”  
“Pinky promise?” Finley held out his tiny pinky.  
“I promise,” Jughead said and gently wrapped his finger around his son’s.  
A smile took over the pout on Finley’s face as he put his hands on top of his dad’s head. “Where’s daddy’s hat?”  
Betty chuckled as Jughead sighed. “Fin, can you say beanie?” He asked.  
Finley shook his head. “Hat.”  
Jughead playfully rolled his eyes but reached over to his nightstand and picked up his infamous crown beanie. For whatever reason, Finley refused to learn how to say the word beanie and kept referring to it as his daddy’s hat which Jughead found irritating, but Betty found it adorable.  
Jughead put the beanie on his son’s head, even if it was too big, Finley loved to wear it. But this time Finley quickly took it off and climbed off of his dad’s chest before making his way to Betty. “Mommy wear daddy’s hat.”  
“Oh, you want mommy to wear it?” Betty said as she took the beanie from her son who was eagerly handing it to her.  
“Yes, yes, yes,” Finley answered.  
“Okay, okay, okay,” Betty replied in the same fashion as she put it on, but she pulled it over her head so that it covered her eyes. “Oh no, where did Finley go?” She exclaimed.  
Finley giggled and said, “I’m right here, mommy.”  
“I can hear you, but I can’t see you. Where did Fin go?” Betty replied.  
“Mommy, I’m right here,” He repeated.  
“I still can’t see you,” The blonde replied. Jughead watched the two with a grin on his face.  
“You see daddy?” Finley asked.  
“No, I can’t see daddy either,” She said with a pout forming on her lips. “Aww, now mommy’s sad because she can’t see her two favorite boys anymore.”  
Finley gasped and looked over at Jughead. “Daddy, mommy can’t see us, what do we do?”  
“Hmm,” Jughead pretended to think for a moment. He then whispered something in Finley’s ear so Betty wouldn’t be able to hear. Finley eagerly nodded and Jughead counted down from three.  
Right after the word, one, left his mouth, Jughead and Finley both startled tickling Betty who let out a yelp, but she quickly took the beanie off. “I can see you guys now!” She exclaimed after they stopped attacking her with tickles.  
“Yay!” Finley replied and gave his mom a tight hug which Betty obliged to.  
Jughead smiled and wrapped his arms around the pair and hugged them both to his chest.  
“I hungry,” Finley said from his spot between his parents.  
“Okay, let’s go make you some breakfast, buddy,” Jughead said as he picked Finley up and set him on his hip before looking back at his wife. “You want something, baby?”  
“Pancakes sound good,” Betty answered with a yawn.  
“Pancakes!” The youngest Jones exclaimed and clapped his hands.  
“Alright, pancakes it is,” Jughead replied with a chuckle in his voice as he exited the bedroom with his son in his arms.  
The two made their way into the kitchen where Jughead set Finley down on the barstool. “Do you want some water, Fin?”  
The boy nodded his head dramatically. “Yes.”  
“Yes?” Jughead drew out the word as he looked back at his son, looking for a word to be added to his sentence.  
“Yes please,” Finley finished.  
“There it is,” He said and grabbed a sippy cup from the cabinet before filling it up with some water. “Here you go, bud.”  
“Thank you, daddy,” Finley answered before taking a drink.  
“You’re welcome,” He said as he grabbed some of the ingredients for pancakes. “Should we add some chocolate chips?”  
“Yes!” He exclaimed. “I get them.” Finley climbed down from the barstool and raced over to the pantry and tried to reach for the chocolate chips but they were one shelf too high. “Daddy,” The little boy whined. “Too high.”  
“You need some help?” Jughead inquired as he lifted Finley up so he could reach.  
“Now I get them,” Finley said once the bag was in his hand.  
“Alright let’s bring them over to the counter,” He replied as he carried the three-year-old over to the marble counter so he could set them down beside the other ingredients. “Yay, you did it!” Jughead exclaimed and held his hand out. “High five.”  
Finley grinned and returned the high five before Jughead sat him back down at the barstool.  
A few minutes later, Finley watched as his dad flipped some pancakes over on the stove. “Mmm, it smells delicious in here,” Betty said as she entered the room.  
“Mommy, I helped get chocolate chips,” Finley said proudly.  
“Oh, you did?” Betty replied.  
“Mm-hm. Can we watch show while daddy makes pancakes?”  
“Sure, baby,” Betty answered as she picked him up and walked over to the couch in the living room. “What show do you wanna watch?”  
“Elmo!” He exclaimed.  
Betty chuckled as she used the remote to turn on the TV and played Sesame Street. Once Finley was settled comfortably on the couch, she walked back into the kitchen where Jughead stood making pancakes. “Need some help?” She asked as she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.  
“No, they’re just about done. Should we use whipped cream or syrup as a topping?”  
“Definitely whipped cream,” Betty answered.  
Jughead smirked and looked back at her. “I knew I married you for a reason.” Betty laughed before he gave her a small kiss.  
Once all three plates were dished up, Betty and Jughead headed over to their usual seats on the floor around the coffee table in the living room. Betty didn’t even remember how or why it started, but ever since the couple had moved into the apartment in Connecticut four months before Finley was born, they had been eating breakfast in the living room around the coffee table even though they had a dining table only ten feet away.  
“Here, it’s time to eat, Fin,” Betty said as she put his plate next to her.  
“Yummy,” Finley said as he rubbed his hands together and licked his lips before digging into the meal hurriedly.  
Betty giggled and pressed her lips to his temple. “Your appetite is just like daddy’s.”  
“Hey,” Jughead said from beside her.  
“It’s not a bad thing, Jug,” She replied with a chuckle in her tone.  
The family of three continued to eat breakfast while Finley babbled away as he always did. Once they were all finished, Betty took Jughead and Finley’s plates by stacking them on hers and walking into the kitchen to wash them.  
“Daddy?”  
“Hm?” Jughead hummed in response as he looked over at his son.  
“You go work today?” He curiously asked with a tilt of his head.  
“No, not today, buddy. Today I get to stay home with you and mommy. Isn’t that exciting?” Jughead exclaimed with a cheerful grin.  
“Yay!” Finley clapped his hands. “I go get my cars.” The little boy stood and ran in the direction of his bedroom which left Jughead to quietly chuckle to himself as he stood and walked into the kitchen to join his wife.  
“I could take care of those, baby,” He said from behind her as he rested his chin on Betty’s shoulder.  
“You made breakfast so it’s my turn to clean up, but thank you,” Betty answered.  
Jughead just nodded and pressed his lips to her cheek. “What do you want to do today?”  
“Well, Fin has been begging and begging me to take him to the park so I think if we put together a picnic we could head over to the park across the street this afternoon,” She replied.  
“Sounds fun,” He said. “I’ll go help get Fin dressed.” Jughead kissed her on the cheek once more before heading towards Finley’s room. The three year old was sitting on his rug, two cars in his hands as he rammed them together. “Hey, Fin, it’s time to get dressed,” Jughead said as he squatted down in front of him.  
“Nooo I don’t want to,” He complained as he crossed his arms over his chest.  
“Okay, well then I guess I better go tell mommy that you said you didn’t want to go to the park after all,” Jughead said as he stood back up.  
“Park?! I want to go park!” Finley exclaimed as he jumped up and wrapped himself around his dad’s legs. “I sorry, daddy! I get dressed!”  
“Alright,” Jughead laughed, but picked up the boy. “What do you want to wear?” He walked him over to the closet in the corner of the room which had a neat array of different shirts and pants.  
“Mmm this one!” Finley shouted as he grabbed a yellow t-shirt.  
“‘Kay, and what pants?” Jughead continued.  
“These ones!” He shouted again while grabbing a pair of dark blue denim jeans.  
About five minutes later, Finley was dressed and ready for the day with his parents at the park. He raced out of his room and down the hall towards the living room, closely followed by Jughead. “Mommy, we go to park now?!” He exclaimed as Betty turned around to face him.  
“No, honey. We’re gonna go after lunch,” She explained.  
“But I want to go now.” Finley started to cry.  
“Finley, if you throw a fit then we’re not going,” Betty warned with a stern look in her eye.  
“Noooo,” He whined while wiping away his tears.  
“Listen to mommy, Fin,” Jughead added as he walked up to the pair.  
Finley sniffed and stomped off to the living room. Betty sighed and met Jughead’s eyes.  
“He’ll get over it,” The raven-haired reassured.  
“Mm-hm,” She hummed before turning back to the counter with a sponge in her hand.  
Jughead was about to walk over to the living room, but his phone started to ring so instead he stepped into the hall to answer it. “Hello?”  
“Hi, Mr. Jones. It’s Alex Sanders with the publishing company. I just wanted to call you and congratulate you. Your book was accepted and we’re going to be working on getting it out into the public as early as next fall,” The man on the other side of the phone explained.  
It took a second for Jughead to process it. The book he had been working on since he was in high school was just accepted by a publishing agency. “It was accepted?”  
“Yes, it was.”  
“I… thank you so much,” Jughead answered in disbelief.  
“It’s my pleasure, Mr. Jones. I personally really enjoyed your work and I think that everyone in the mystery loving community will as well.”  
“Th-thank you,” He stuttered, still very much in shock. “So this is it? It’s a done deal?”  
“Your agent will be doing a follow up call tomorrow morning for some last minute paperwork and revisions, but other than that, yes, everything is finalized. And like I said before, our goal is to get your book hitting the stores by next fall at the earliest.”  
“Alright, thank you so much,” He answered. “I need to go tell my wife. She’s going to be so excited, but thank you again.”  
“You’re very welcome, sir,” Alex Sanders replied. “I hope to meet you along with some of my coworkers soon.”  
“Yes, same here,” Jughead agreed.  
The two exchanged goodbyes before Jughead slowly walked into the living room, his phone clutched to his chest and a look of disbelief still on his face.  
Betty noticed him standing there so she said, “Is something wrong, Jug?”  
He looked up at her and a grin appeared on his face. “I got the deal, Betts.”  
Betty stared at him, mirroring his expression of disbelief. “The book is going to get published?”  
“Yeah,” He breathed.  
“Oh my god!” Betty exclaimed as she ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck while hugging him tight. “See? I told you that it would,” She said, her voice muffled by his shirt.  
“You did, didn’t you?” He replied, hugging her closer.  
“I’m so proud of you,” Betty whispered after the pair drew back. She moved her hands to rest on the sides of his face as he gazed down at her, his arms at her waist.  
“I love you,” He said in response.  
“I love you too.” Jughead closed the gap between them by pressing his lips to hers in a deep kiss.  
“Yucky,” Finley whined as he ran up to his parents, clutching at their legs. Betty laughed when they broke apart while Jughead leaned down to pick up his son.  
“You wanna hear some exciting news, buddy?”  
“Go to park now?” Finley offered.  
“No, not yet. It’s something else,” He said. “Do you remember how daddy goes to work so he can write stories?” Finley nodded his head. “Well after someone writes a story, they have to wait for a publisher to see if they like their book or not.”  
“What’s that?” Finley curiously inquired.  
“Publishers are the people who make all the books so everybody can read them. See, all daddy is able to do is write the stories on his computer, but then once that’s all done, a publisher decides if they want other people to read daddy’s story or not,” Jughead explained.  
“So people read daddy’s story?” He asked.  
“Yeah, the publishers just agreed to publish daddy’s story so it won’t be long before you’ll get to hold daddy’s book,” Jughead added.  
“Yay!” Finley exclaimed again while clapping his hands.  
Jughead and Betty both chuckled. Jughead’s arm that wasn’t holding Finley wrapped around Betty’s waist and tucked her into his side as she leaned her head against his chest.  
Finley reached for a strand of Betty’s hair and wrapped his fingers around it. “Mommy write story too?”  
“No, baby, that’s what daddy’s good at,” She answered before placing a kiss on Finley’s forehead. Finley smiled and then turned his head away from Betty to lay against his dad’s shoulder. She then looked up at Jughead and whispered so only he could hear her, “Among other things.”  
“Oh yeah?” Jughead murmured through a smirk as the blonde inched her lips closer to his.  
“Mm-hm,” Betty said against his mouth.  
“Yucky, yucky, yucky,” Finley exclaimed while thrashing in Jughead’s arm in an attempt to get down. The pair laughed as Jughead set the little boy down who ran back towards his room where he was going to resume playing with his cars.  
Betty put her arms back around his neck as she said, “I am super proud of you, Jug.”  
“I know you are,” He answered. “And thank you for being supportive of this.”  
“Of course I’m going to be supportive. This was your dream and after all of these years it’s finally coming true,” Betty said.  
“I still don’t think I’m actually going to believe that it’s happening until I have the finished copy in my hands. But even then, I don’t know if I’ll believe it,” Jughead said.  
“Well you better start believing it soon, baby, because I’m going to be bragging to everyone I know that my husband is a published author.”  
Jughead chuckled but kissed her for a third time due to their past interruptions.  
…  
Some time later, Finley was excitedly running around the coffee table as Betty prepared a picnic basket for their afternoon at the park.  
“Fin, come get your shoes on,” Jughead said as he sat down on the couch. Finley jumped into his dad’s lap who grunted in response. “You’re getting too big to do that, bud.”  
This was for some apparent reason hilarious to Finley so he threw his head back and erupted into a fit of laughter which brought a grin to Jughead’s face.  
“Oh, you think that’s funny?” He teased as he started to tickle Finley. “You think that’s funny, huh?”  
“No, daddy, stop!” Finley exclaimed through his laughs.  
“Jug, aren’t you supposed to be helping him with his shoes?” Betty said from a few feet away with her hands on her hips, but she wasn’t able to hide the huge smile on her face that always seemed to escape her lips when she saw Jughead and Finley playing like this.  
“Oh right. Sorry, baby,” Jughead said once Finley started to calm down. Betty playfully rolled her eyes and got back to packing the basket. “Uh-oh, I think we made mommy mad,” He whispered to the boy.  
“Oh no,” Finley whispered back.  
“I think if we got your shoes on and then attacked her with kisses she wouldn’t be mad anymore,” Jughead purposed, his voice still a whisper.  
“Okay,” Finley agreed and took a seat on his dad’s knee so Jughead could help him slip on his shoes.  
Once that was done, the father and son both stood before they ran up to Betty. She let out a surprised yelp as Jughead scooped her up in his arms and placed her on the couch where he and Finley both started kissing her face.  
Betty giggled and shut her eyes tight, a wide grin appearing on her lips. “Alright, alright, alright,” She exclaimed after a few moments, causing Jughead and Finley to pull away. “You two crack me up.”  
Once everyone was situated and Betty had double checked that they had everything, the Jones family started the short descent towards the park. It was across the street so it resulted in only being a five minute walk. Well, more of a sprint in Finley’s case. He ran a good distance ahead of his parents who were walking hand in hand. The weather was cool and there was a slight breeze which was perfect picnic in the park weather.  
When they arrived, Finley gasped at the huge expanse of grass and a jungle gym off to the side. He looked back at Betty and Jughead who were finally catching up to him. “Mommy, daddy! I go play? I go play?” He exclaimed while jumping up and down.  
“Yes, you can go play, but make sure you play nice and if you get hungry mommy packed you some snacks, okay?” Jughead answered while squatting down so he was eye level with Finley.  
“Okay!” He finished before running down the hill and towards the play gym.  
“Be careful, Fin!” Betty yelled after him, but he was already too far out of earshot.  
“Alright, where should we put everything down?” Jughead asked.  
“I think here’s good,” She replied as she looked down at the green patch of grass.  
A few minutes later, the blankets were laid out and the picnic basket was already being unloaded by Jughead.  
“Jug, the food is supposed to last us all afternoon,” Betty said as she watched him pull out a sandwich.  
“Come on, I saw you making this and you really expect me to wait a few hours to eat my favorite type of sandwich? You know me better than that, baby,” Jughead argued. Betty just shook her head while chuckling quietly. He mirrored her smile before taking a bite. “Want some?”  
“Nope, I made that one just for you. This one-” She grabbed a neatly wrapped BLT. “-is for me.”  
“Mm, I see.”  
The couple ate their sandwiches while the conversation faded into small talk. Once they were done, Betty rubbed her hands together before saying, “I actually have a surprise for you.”  
“You do?”  
“Mm-hm.” She pulled out a small box from the basket and handed it to him.  
“Last time I checked, today’s not my birthday nor is it Christmas,” Jughead joked.  
“Just open it, Jug,” Betty laughed.  
“Hmm, let’s see what it is,” He said as he took off the lid. The lighthearted joking quickly came to a sudden halt as Jughead pulled out a shirt that read, proud daddy of two.  
Betty sat across from him with a wide grin on her face. Jughead was rendered speechless for the second time that day. He quickly looked up at her with wide eyes. “Are you-we’re having another baby?!” He exclaimed.  
“Yeah,” Betty answered with a tearful nod.  
Jughead threw the shirt aside and enveloped the crying woman in his arms. “Oh my god,” He whispered against her hair. “First hearing that my book is going to get published and now this. This was to be one of the best days of my life.” Betty laughed and nodded against his chest. After a moment they drew back. “How far along are you?” He asked.  
“Four weeks. I found out last week and I wanted to do something to surprise you,” Betty answered while wiping at her eyes.  
“Well you certainly did a wonderful job at the surprise part,” Jughead said. Betty beamed wider in response. “Come here.” He pulled her down into a soft kiss, laying back against the grass so she was on top of him. One of his hands was planted on her hip and the other cradled the side of her face while his lips ran a slow pattern over hers.  
He drew back for just a moment to whisper the words, “I love you so much,” before kissing her again, this time gently rolling them over so she was beneath him, her hands in his hair. He pressed a kiss to her throat, then lowered himself to her stomach where he held his lips for a few moments. “I can’t believe we’re going to have another baby,” Jughead spoke softly.  
“Me either,” Betty replied as her hand cupped his cheek. The two held their loving gaze before Finley came running up the couple.  
“Mommy, I hungry!” He exclaimed as he plopped down on the blanket.  
“Okay, what do you want to eat?” Betty asked as she sat up and opened the picnic basket. Jughead wasn’t able to rid himself of the smile that he felt was going to be permanently etched on his face for the rest of his life because of the wonderful family Betty Cooper had given him. He was propped up on one elbow as he watched his son and wife dig through the picnic basket.  
“Cookie!” Finley cheered as he pulled out a box of chocolate chip cookies.  
“You can have a cookie if you have some grapes too,” Betty compromised as she grabbed the bag of green grapes.  
Finley nodded and took a handful of grapes after handing the box of cookies to Jughead. “Daddy, you open this?”  
“Sure,” He answered. After the box was opened, he handed one cookie to Finley and put the others away. “The other ones are for daddy.”  
Betty giggled from beside him. The pair made quick eye contact and after a nod from Jughead, Betty said, “Hey, Fin, you want to hear some really exciting news?”  
“Yes!” He exclaimed, his mouth full of crumbs.  
“You’re going to have a little brother or sister soon,” She said.  
Finley blinked his bright green eyes, not quite understanding. “Brother or sister? ‘Nother baby?”  
“Yeah, buddy,” Jughead said while scooping up his son in his arms and putting him on his lap. “There’s a baby in mommy’s tummy.”  
“Really?” Finley gasped. “How?”  
Jughead and Betty both laughed. “That’s a conversation for another day,” Jughead said as he kissed the top of Finley’s head. “But yeah, there really is. Isn’t that cool?”  
“Uh-huh,” Finley enthusiastically said.  
“Here, you want to see where the baby is?” Betty offered as Jughead scoot closer to his wife. She put a hand on her stomach and then used her other hand to entwine with Finley’s and rest it over hers.  
Finley looked up at his mom, his mouth making an ‘o’ shape. “Baby in there?”  
“Yeah,” Betty answered with a wide smile.  
“When it come out to say hi?” He questioned.  
“Not until next summer,” She said.  
“Aw,” Finley pouted.  
“I know, that’s a long time, huh?” Betty replied as she moved the few loose pieces of her son’s hair out of his eyes.  
“It okay. I be a good boy and wait,” Finley said with a proud smile.  
“Yes, you will,” Jughead said. “But the new baby will be here before you know it, Fin. And then you’re going to have to be an example for your sister or brother, okay?”  
“Mm-hm,” He replied with a strong nod. Jughead and Betty both looked at each other with matching wide smiles.  
The Jones’ spent the rest of their afternoon at the park, playing and talking, and of course, eating; all three of them unable to shake the excitement for the new addition to their family.


End file.
